1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to smart footwear and operating method thereof and, more particularly, to smart footwear capable of measuring the activity and quantity of motion of elderly residents of retirement villages or nursing homes, and an operating method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
As modern society is transitioning toward an aging society, the numbers of aged people who reside in nursery homes or retirement villages is increasing. Due to the development of health care and IT technology, those who live in such facilities can have periodical checkups of their physical condition and may receive additional help as necessary. Through these techniques, bio-information including pulse, blood pressure, blood-sugar levels, and the like, may be monitored, or the basic daily lives of the elderly can be monitored through a positioning (or location tracking) technique such as RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification), a USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network), and the like, whereby a healthy lifestyle can be induced and help can be offered when an abnormal symptom or an emergency occurs.
These techniques are simply focused on checking the physical condition of the elderly in indoor places or are focused on how to quickly cope with an accident or a dangerous situation that takes place.
However, in order for the elderly to live a better life in their old age, they need to actively participate in social activities as well as being in good physical condition, without a sense of isolation. If the elderly live solely in a single room or do not positively participate in workouts or group activities, those lives cannot be considered to be good healthy lives.
The related art allows for the measurement of the quantity of motion or caloric consumption by using a passometer including an acceleration sensor, a piezoelectric sensor, or the like, or an activity measurement device, or broadly analogizing a lifestyle, or the behaviors of everyday lives by using a positioning technique such as a USN, RFID, Wi-Fi, GPS, and the like.
However, these techniques bring about user inconvenience in that users must continually wear new devices and users may have possible reluctance in that they might feel as if they are being monitored constantly, and if location information and the quantity of motion are not combined, there is a limitation in detecting users' activities and a sense of isolation.